


Restless

by Hungry_AloeLeaf



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: F/M, vibe checking, walking bushes baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:14:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hungry_AloeLeaf/pseuds/Hungry_AloeLeaf
Summary: Darktail has taken over Shadowclan, and Rowanclaw and his family are stuck in Thunderclan. Rowanclaw can't sleep, and goes on a very early morning walk to calm himself down. He thinks about his kids before he gets vibe checked by a mysterious bush.
Relationships: Dovewing/Tigerheart (Warriors), Rowanclaw/Tawnypelt (Warriors)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11





	1. The Kidnapping

_Settle. Rotate. Fluff. Rotate. Pound the moss. Rotate. Shift closer to Tawny. Too hot. Shift away. Too cold._

“Stop it.” Tawnypelt snapped.

“I can’t sleep.” Rowanstar hissed back.

“If you can’t sleep, go somewhere else. Take a walk, I don’t care.” Her voice was groggy, and Rowanstar could tell that she was already wrapped up in sleepy fog.

So, he stepped out of the Thunderclan den, sighing softly in the night air. It was chilly, and he shivered, fluffing out his short dark ginger pelt.  
Yes, a walk. A walk would warm him up.

The night sky was vibrant, from his point of view. The sky wasn’t black, it was a gorgeous midnight blue, gray clouds swirled above, not ever stopping the twinkle of the stars. Rowanstar scoffed, tail lashing as he padded on, along the bushes. What good were Stars now.

Crickets chirped nearby and owls hooted somewhere in the near distance. He padded along still, pawpads cold as they hit the stony areas of the Thunderclan territory. A critter scuttled underneath a bush, but he honestly didn’t feel like chasing it.

He wondered, suddenly, if Dawnpelt was okay.

Stuck with the rogues, torn between the concept of Shadowclan and her kits.

He wondered if she was happy.

Sure, his kits could be brats – he’d yelled at them multiple times for disturbing his naps, romping around on the freshkill pile, and being plain nuisances at times. But he’d always loved them. He missed Flametail’s mischievous little grins and the way one of his paws would tremble when he got too excited. He missed Dawnpelt’s cackles and snorts of laughter and her fierce protectiveness over everyone she loved. Tigerheart might as well be gone, he kept disappearing from Rowanstar’s view whenever he could. But subtleness was not one of Tigerheart’s strongest suits. He knew his son was letting his feelings for that gray she-cat run free.

He sighed deeply, leaping onto a rock jutting out from the earth, not too high, and curled up there.

“You’d better okay…” He grumbled in the direction of what used to be the Shadowclan camp.

He didn’t notice the amber eyes gleaming out of the bushes behind him. He closed his eyes, and he imagined that Dawnpelt and Flametail were right in front of him.

_“Did you even see that giant pigeon Dawn caught?”_

_“Flame, it wasn’t giant…”_

_“It was ginormous, Dad!” Flametail’s ice blue eyes shone up at Rowanclaw, and his teeth flashed in the sunlight. “Do you want me to go and get it?”_

_“It’s for the elders, you tick-brain!”_

_“Well, I’m certainly getting older by the heartbeat,” Tigerheart shuffled closer to the freshkill pile with a devious smirk._

_“OH MY STARS YOU GUYS!”_

Rowanstar snapped out of the memory when a twig suddenly snapped behind him. His dark ginger fur fluffed up, and he quickly slid off of the rock, glancing around fearfully.

“Who’s there?” He called into bushes, unsheathing his claws.

The bushes rustled, and in the moonlight, he could see that one of the bushes suddenly rose. Legs appeared underneath the bush as it stood and began to lumber towards him.

“OKAY I TAKE IT BACK! STARS ARE GOOD! Just don’t send plants after me!”

The stars were silent as the bush slinked closer, and raised a huge paw to crush him. There was nobody around to hear his muffled scream as the world went black.


	2. The Worrying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tigerheart finds out his dad is missing, and is not too thrilled about it.

Bramblestar was returning from a frankly awful trip to the dirtplace when a brown blur plowed into him.

_“UNCLEBRAMBLEINEEDHELPICAN’TFINDDADANDMOM’SNOTTELLINGMEWHEREHEISBECAUSESHE’STOOSLEEPY-”_

“Tiger, slow down,” Bramblestar plucked his nephew up with a paw, looking into the tearful green eyes. “What happened? Is it an emergency?”

“I can’t find Dad!” The Shadowclan warrior blurted, wriggling in the larger tabby’s grip. “I looked in his nest, I looked in the medicine den… did you see him?”

“N-no…” Bramblestar mewed thoughtfully. He dropped Tigerheart. “He’s not at the dirtplace…”

“He’s not supposed to be by himself!” Tigerheart desperately pawed his uncle’s leg. “What if Darktail got him?”

“He’ll probably be fine. He’s a strong cat.”

Bramblestar shrank away at the sharp glare the tom gave him.

“Okay, okay, I was only saying that to make you feel better. But you’re right, we probably should find him before he gets himself into some sort of trouble…”

“Are you sending out a patrol?”

“Uh… sure. I’ll do that. Later.”

“Why not now?!” Tigerheart’s green eyes narrowed in rage. “My dad could be dead or something!”

“If he is, then he’ll stay in the same spot when we find him – OW!” The Thunderclan leader rubbed his recently cuffed ear. “Okay, okay, I’ll send out a patrol now. Stars, you can be too much like your mother sometimes…”

\---

A little later, when a Thunderclan patrol was all organized, Tawnypelt stumbled out of the warriors’ den. Tigerheart assumed that the chatter had possibly awakened her. She blinked at him, confused at the glare he gave her.

“Tiger,” She padded over, looking at the large patrol getting ready to search in the middle of camp. “What is all of this?”

“You wouldn’t care.”

“Is this about your father…?” She rubbed her sleepy eyes. “I thought I told you he went on a walk…”

“If you can call all of that mumbling ‘telling’ me anything. You act like you don’t remember the last time he went missing!”

“…I don’t.”

“No! Because you weren’t there!”

“Okay…” Tawnypelt heaved a sigh. “I’m not going to stand in the middle of camp and be lectured by a kit… I’ll go see if Bramble will let me go on this patrol…”

Tigerheart’s tail lashed furiously when she stalked past him.

“And what if it is Darktail? Do you want him to hurt you too? You know he will if the Kin happens to see you on a patrol.”

“Tiger, you worry too much. Everything’s fine.”

When she slipped into the leader’s den across from camp, the tabby couldn’t help but unsheathe his claws in frustration. Just because she wasn’t concerned about anything didn’t mean he had to be just as aloof. He stomped into the warriors’ den, avoiding the mix of Thunderclan pelts to settle down in his own nest. He closed his eyes to think.

But… _did_ he worry too much?

When was it worrying too much when your entire Clan was in shambles, ruled by a vicious murderer, when the murderer had most of your family in their clutches-

Nope, it was certainly the perfect amount of worrying.

He miserably sighed, putting his paws over his head, as if that would block out the flurry of thoughts bombarding him.

“Tiger?”

The Shadowclan warrior jolted in surprise, and he opened his eyes to see a gray she-cat.

“Dove… Dovewing?” The tabby glanced around to see if Ivypool was around before he remembered that he might have seen her in the leaving patrol. “Hi…”

“What’s going on with you?” Dovewing mewed curiously, sniffing at his ear and recoiling – she could probably smell his fear scent. “I mean, it’s not everyday you have that thinking face.”

“Well…” He paused. “Do you really want to hear about it?”

“Sure! I have the time. Besides, you seem upset. You can talk to me!” She smiled, and his chest fluttered with warmth. “Go on, tell me what happened!”

“Um… okay…” He took in a deep breath. “I guess it all started this morning…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bramblestar: funny how you only call me "uncle" when you want something
> 
> AGH I lost my first draft of this  
> but I actually think that this is better


End file.
